The Impact of the Digital Services Act (DSA) on Recommender Systems [Mozilla]

Mozilla and Verfassungsblog have released an interesting article on how the European Union’s Digital Service Act (DSA) may impact recommender systems.

Here is a summary of the full article:

The Digital Services Act (DSA) introduces rules about how online platforms should manage their recommender systems. These systems suggest content to users. The DSA makes platforms called VLOPs/VLOSEs check and lessen their “systemic risks,” including risks from their recommender systems (Articles 34 and 35). Article 27, which applies to all online platforms, requires these platforms to clearly explain to users how their recommender systems work. Additionally, Article 38 says these platforms must offer a version of their recommender system that doesn’t use “profiling,” which involves collecting and analyzing personal data under the GDPR.

Other parts of the DSA also affect recommender systems. They deal with independent checks (Article 37), researchers getting data (Article 40), rules about platforms’ terms and conditions (Article 14), and explanations for decisions (Article 17). These include actions platforms take to lower the visibility of certain content.

However, there are questions about how effective these DSA rules are. How much detail will be added later by laws and advice from regulators? Do platforms still have too much freedom?

A recent study from Mozilla has suggested several actions to create a more accountable system for making recommendations online. These actions could help us judge the DSA’s effectiveness. They include making things clear to users, the public, and experts; letting third parties check recommender systems; giving researchers more access to data, documents, and tools; and giving users more control over their online experience and the data collected from them. Although each action alone won’t solve all the issues with platforms and their recommenders, together they could lead to better oversight and more research on these systems.

Now, the question is how does the DSA measure up to these suggestions? Will it give researchers enough power to really understand recommender systems? Will it make these systems transparent enough for real examination? And will it let users have real control?